


Emily Prentiss Isn't Elle

by oliverbrnch



Series: BAU Team as Family [1]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: (Referenced) - Freeform, (hinted) - Freeform, (kind of), (not mentioned not referenced but i wanted you to know), Autism, Autism Spectrum, Autistic Spencer Reid, Emily Prentiss Has ADHD, Gay Spencer Reid, Gen, Jemily - Freeform, Lesbian Emily Prentiss, Protective Emily Prentiss, Self-Esteem Issues, Spencer Reid Needs a Hug, Undiagnosed Autism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:48:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29368782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oliverbrnch/pseuds/oliverbrnch
Summary: The first time Spencer Reid meets Emily Prentiss, he hates her.Heloathesher.Spencer Reid doesnotdo well with change, especially in group dynamics. He resents Emily Prentiss for, well, existing. For replacing Elle. He finds out she's not so bad after all.
Relationships: (hinted), Elle Greenaway & Spencer Reid, Emily Prentiss & Spencer Reid, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Series: BAU Team as Family [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2157342
Comments: 12
Kudos: 131





	Emily Prentiss Isn't Elle

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I've been binge-watching Criminal Minds for the past month or so and I've fallen in love with the teasing, sibling-like relationship I see Derek, Emily, and Spencer all having (not that the CM writers actually really gave us any semblance of a coherent thought in regards to any character, their backstory, their relationships, _anything whatsoever _) but I also noticed that Elle and Spencer seemed to be close friends in s1, so I wrote this.__
> 
> _  
> _I don't own Criminal Minds, etc, etc, I just want to give the characters background, character growth, flaws, love, and a good story._  
> _
> 
> _  
> _I liked writing it, so I hope you like reading it. Have a nice day!__  
> 

The first time Spencer Reid meets Emily Prentiss, he hates her. 

He _loathes _her.__

__Her dark hair, her dark eyes, her prim and put together blazer and blouse, her sarcastic humor peeping out from behind her new-kid, professional facade._ _

__She’s _like _Elle, but she’s not Elle, and she obliterates Spencer’s expectations for what work is, what the BAU’s dynamic is.___ _

____She’s like if Elle was a prim and proper trust fund kid, not rough from growing up in the boroughs of New York._ _ _ _

____She’s like if Elle wasn’t Cuban, if she didn’t swirl Spencer’s birthday into a week-long Halloween-Dias de Los Muertos party, if she didn’t try (and fail) to teach him to dance in the break room during paperwork days, if she wasn’t the snarky, rough around the edges, friend Elle had been._ _ _ _

____Elle Greenaway’s loss is poignant in Emily Prentiss’s beginning._ _ _ _

____He doesn’t realized he’s overstimulated and overwhelmed by the change, by the tsunami of emotions coursing through his blood like a poison, until he has a chance to tear away from the team and hide in the empty conference room._ _ _ _

____The conference room looks just the same as it always does: round, wooden table with seven seats surrounding it, the whiteboard awaiting a projected case file, the battered olive couch tucked in the corner, the fluorescent lights flickering in a way that irritates Spencer’s eyes, but it’s _familiar, _it’s the _same. _It’s looks like it did on Spencer’s first day at the BAU, and he sincerely hopes it’ll look relatively the same on his last._____ _ _ _

________He tucks himself into the corner of the olive couch, his back to a wall, facing the wall of windows will the shades rolled up, his legs crossed in front of him, hands cupped over his ears, trying to calm the itchy, buzzy, overwhelmed “everything is too much” sensation he’s currently experiencing. Spencer rocks back and forth lightly at he tries to focus on something outside of his emotions. He’s looking through the window when he sees the cause of his overwhelming sorrow heading toward the conference room, looking confused and concerned._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He expects her to make it worse, but Derek intercepts her, his back guarding the clear door. Spencer can see his hands move, vaguely feel the vibrations of Derek’s deep voice from behind his cupped hands, and he sees Emily Prentiss’s face change. He has no energy to try to decipher its meaning, but Derek’s stepping away, stepping back to lean against the wrought-iron railings, arms crossed as he watches Emily Prentiss, his thick eyebrows furrowed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Instead of turning around and leaving him there—alone, like he _wants _his mind supplies—Emily Prentiss enters, carefully opening and closing the door soundlessly. He doesn’t realize it, but he’s rocking more vigorously, humming a sea shanty he’d gotten stuck in his head weeks ago, when she approaches, rummaging in the pockets of her brand-new blazer.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Spencer stops humming quite as loudly, acutely aware of how annoying it’s been to others in the past, when Emily Prentiss retrieves a small black object made up of six separate cubes creating a rectangle. She demonstrates for a moment, folding it in half long ways with her middle finger before the outer edge cubes fall inwards to create a 2x2x2 cube. He reads her lips as she explains quietly, her voice barely above a whisper._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________“I know we’re not friends yet, but I thought this might help,” she offers, bitter coffee eyes warmer than he was expecting. “I have ADHD, and it helps me focus or stay calm or whatever. It’s called an ‘infinity cube,’ and I hope it helps you too.”_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________She carefully places it in front of his crossed legs on the couch, like he might lunge for her, attack her maybe, before stepping away and heading for the door. Before she leaves, though, she turns off the fluorescent light overhead that is flickering incessantly, before closing the door behind her and heading back to Elle’s— _her _desk.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________An itch he didn’t even realize he had over everything else stops itching with the light off, and it’s a little easier to breathe._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Spencer doesn’t know what to think of what just happened, doesn’t know how to rationalize it, his mind racing._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

____________Did she think he has ADHD too? He doesn’t know, exactly, what’s going on, figured it was just his genius brain overheating or something similar, but what did _she _think was wrong with him? Did she think he was some sort of freak? Why would she think to give him this cube thing, the ‘infinity cube’? Would it help?___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________He picked it up with the fingertips of one dubious hand, mimicking how she’d manipulated it, flicking the cubes back to their original, rectangle shape, before dropping the sides down into a cube, and continuing the cycle._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________It was satisfying, this repetitive cycle of motion, and he found himself beginning to breathe again as he forced his lungs to inflate as he focused on the cube and his rocking. After a while, he certainly was feeling better, more put together, if not still tired._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Maybe Emily Prentiss was more than just a prim and proper princess. Maybe she was more than just Elle’s replacement—although, in Spencer’s mind, she certainly did replace her—and maybe she could eventually grow to be more than that to him too._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Maybe. ___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________(She did._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Eventually, Emily Prentiss means more to him that words can express, he loves her more than he ever thought he would, she loves him more than he was ever expecting to be loved from this whirlwind woman, and he trusts her with things he struggles to say to anyone else. He gives her away at her wedding, sniffling at seeing her marry the woman of her dreams, her grateful smile warming his heart like no one else’s. She walks down the aisle with him, kisses both cheeks, and tells him that she’s so glad she met him, that she's so grateful for him in her life. Emily’s mascara is smudged, and she scowls at him like that will reaffirm that she’s tough and scary and brooding and dark, and he laughs and kisses her forehead before she takes her seat._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

______________Spencer loves her like no man has ever loved a sister he was never expecting to have.)_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


End file.
